The House of Representatives on Wednesday fast-tracked the approval of the bill creating the Coconut Industry Trust Fund, which was vetoed by the President in February.
The bill was approved on second reading a few hours after the House Committee on Agriculture and Food approved House Bill (HB) 9197 in an executive meeting.
HB 9197 is expected to be approved on third and final reading next week.
Anac-IP Party-list Rep. Jose Panganiban, panel chairman, said the committee has decided to use the original House version of the measure, which was passed on third and final reading in 2017.
Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the passage of the bill on final reading will be prioritized by the lower chamber in the last few days of the session. The 17th Congress has until June 5 to approve the measure.
According to Arroyo, she hopes the bill would “conform more to the policy direction of the Executive and thus constitutes our main priority for our last [few] weeks’ work in the House of Representatives.”
“The bill that was refiled will now be amended with substitution with the administration measure to make it go fast. We hope it will pass, pass faster,” she added.
Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said in a statement that the amended bill stipulates a start-up fund of P10 billion for the coconut industry and reduced the membership of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) Board to 11 from 16.
“At least P5 billion from the coco-levy fund will be released every year for coconut development programs,” Piñol said.
The original House version of the bill mandates the creation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry and Trust Fund (CITF), which is expected to benefit coconut farmers. The measure grants a reconstituted PCA the powers to supervise and manage the money and the new Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan.
The coco-levy funds have been stuck in court disputes until 2012, when the Supreme Court awarded the shares bought with the money to the government to be used for coconut farmers and the industry.
One of the salient features of the coco-levy bill is the creation of the trust fund, which shall consist of the trust principal and the trust income and provides that no portion of it shall accrue to general fund of the national government.
Under the bill, all proceeds or receipts from the sale of coconut-levy assets shall be remitted to the trust fund.
The bill creates the trust fund committee, under the Office of the President, which is tasked to monitor the implementation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan and approve disbursements out of the trust fund.
The measure provides the trust fund shall be deposited in the Bureau of the treasury, which shall account for the trust fund in the manner provided by the committee.
It also provides the allocation of P10 billion as initial trust principal to be used within two years commencing from the approval of the plan by the President.
The bill mandates the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to conduct a complete accounting and inventory of all coconut-levy assets.
It directs the Commission on Audit to audit the inventory of coconut-levy assets prepared by the PCGG and to submit to coconut farmers and industry trust fund committee its initial audit report within 120 days upon completion of the audit.
It also provides for the creation of an Ad-Hoc Committee that shall prepare, every 10 years, a medium-term plan of programs, activities and projects, which shall be funded out of the trust fund and which shall be known as the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Plan.
The bill authorizes the Privatization Management Office as the sole entity to dispose of the coconut-levy assets that have been approved for privatization.
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